Man works all night for days to create tiny £100,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup masterpiece
Graham Short knows how to make things that are small but perfectly formed. The local world-renowned 'micro-artist' has worked late at night for days to carve the name of every horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup onto a nail's head.
He needs to work at night to ensure better concentration - and the lengths he goes to are extraordinary. A Coventry bookmaker commissioned Graham, 77, from Birmingham, to complete out the tiny creation.
Graham spent 400 hours etching all the individual winners to mark the 100th anniversary of the racing festival this year. The 840 letters were engraved on a 2mm x 3mm horseshoe nail. It was commissioned by former Coventry bookmaker Bryan Morris - and he says it's worth above £100,000.
Graham said: "Bryan came to me with the idea and asked whether I would like to do it for the festival's centenary. I always liked a challenge and went for it. It sits on the head of a horseshoe nail, which is used for attaching ultra-light aluminium shoes onto a racehorse’s hoof.
"I was sent a dozen of them from a stables in Newmarket and I worked five hours throughout the night for about four or five days at a time. It took in total of around four months to complete and I think Bryan is very pleased with the result."
He added: "We have brought it along to Cheltenham this year and I got to speak to groups of schoolchildren in the Royal Box. It's been some experience so far this week."
Graham works with ultra-fine needles through a powerful medical microscope while wearing a stethoscope to monitor his heart rate. He takes potassium, magnesium, and beta-blockers to lower his heart to around 25 beats a minute and engraves between heartbeats when he is perfectly still.
Every three months he receives a course of Botox injections around his eyes to stop involuntary eye muscle movements disturbing his concentration. The grandfather-of-two also works exclusively at night when traffic noise and vibrations are at a minimum.
He said: "About 30 minutes after taking the pills my heartbeat drops to 25bpm. I do a lot of swimming so I can keep fit so I can keep on taking it. I also work late at night when most people are at home in bed and there isn’t much noise or vibration from traffic outside.
"One passing lorry can feel like an earthquake and I have to start all over again. I know what I do is viewed as extraordinary but it has become a normal job to me."
The artwork, called the 'Cheltenham Nail' will be on display all week at the Cheltenham Festival from today (March 12) until Friday, March 15.
Bryan, 62, from Coventry said: "I came up with the idea a couple of years ago for the 100th anniversary and Graham said he would give it a go. He actually did it last year but had to start again as last year's winner was Galopin Des Champs - which was too long to add on.
"I have brought it along to Cheltenham this year and people just can't get their heads around it. Some have said 'it's amazing what lasers can do these days' and when I point out the reality, they just cannot believe it.
"It belongs here on display rather than in my kitchen - but I'm honoured to own it. Graham's work has fetched more than £50,000 previously but this is among his best work and I think worth at least £100,000. It is the most astonishing piece of horse-racing art ever created," he added.
